The invention relates generally to the field of sales and marketing. More particularly, the invention relates to the creation, distribution, and tracking of in-store promotions via digital distribution channels and ensuring that only authorized consumers receive the promotions.
In-store promotions are promotions that can be used at the portion of a merchant's business that takes place at a physical or “brick-and-mortar” location. Previous implementations of distributing coupons and other types of in-store promotions through digital media have had serious limitations on both the distribution and tracking of these in-store promotions as well as impeding consumer utilization. Distributing offers via digital media, if not done properly, is difficult to control and can lead to fraudulent distribution and redemptions.
Traditionally, most in-store promotions have been distributed as static images or links to static images that cannot be tracked to a distribution channel (ex. website, email, etc.) or capture more granular detail about that distribution channel (ex. paid search keywords) or consumer (ex. email address). Furthermore, these static images or links to static images can create security issues when an in-store promotion or offer is posted on an unauthorized website, sent via email, shared via social media, or shared via other distribution methods to unintended recipients due to lack of security. These issues have traditionally made advertisers reluctant to utilize digital in-store promotions because these in-store promotions are difficult to control. This reluctance to utilize digital in-store promotions has adversely affected consumers as well by decreasing the number of digital in-store promotions that advertisers make available.
Companies have attempted to address some security issues by requiring consumers to register for a service and install software on their personal computer necessary to view and print the in-store promotions (see Barnett, et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,321,208 and 6,336,099). Many advertisers and consumers view a requirement to register and install software to obtain an in-store promotion as overly invasive and burdensome. These requirements have hindered adoption of digital in-store promotions by both advertisers and consumers.
Requiring user registration and client software installation enables advertisers to provide tracking and security unique to a user's computer, but creates other problems. Consumer adoption and privacy concerns are prevalent with registration and client software. The client software needs to communicate with a server via some internet connectivity and is often flagged as spyware or malware and is blocked by many firewalls and corporate proxy servers. Consumer adoption has suffered greatly with registration due to privacy concerns and lack of support across different computer operating systems. Client software does not work across all computer systems and large populations of consumers are unable to use the software due to incompatibility issues. As consumers upgrade their systems they will need to reinstall and potentially re-register the software.
Consumer registration is also limited to tracking the consumer information used when registered and, in some cases, the distribution channel in broad terms. Distribution via internet search engines, mobile phones and other media where information is dynamic is not possible. Consumer information is often not reliable due to consumers entering in fraudulent information to protect their actual information. Many free email services exist which are used as the registered email address so consumers do not provide their true email address thus defeating the tracking goal.
Technical issues with client software aside from operating system compatibility exist. Client software is often not compatible with many printers. Both old and new printers are not supported or will be lagging in support. End user support often suffers because the software vendor needs to be contacted if print issues arise. Consumers are often confused and frustrated because the website they find the in-store promotion cannot support the client software.
One of the most popular methods for distributing coupons is via email. Advertisers will often segment an email database and send special in-store promotions to different segments of the database to drive an in-store purchase with a promotion. Unfortunately, emails are often forwarded to unintended or unauthorized recipients, which can be very problematic for advertisers that have a limited budget for a promotion and only want the desired recipients to be able to access the promotion.